In the evening, under the dim and warm winter sun, dragging a long shadow, a single horse is waiting to ride, trampling on the frost and snow, following the official road, flying from the north. It is the depth of winter, and there are few people on the road, just for the flying horse to gallop. The knight was a strong man, with a letter flag on his back. He was a soldier of the Post-Journal Army. His face was weathered and he looked tired. When he arrived at the Military Post Station in the southwest of Tokyo, he reined in his horse and almost rolled off the horse.
Immediately, the guarding postmen came forward to help and lead the horses, and then the postman in charge went out to ask questions.
The identity was quickly verified and passed. He cut off the knot with a knife, took out a bamboo tube and handed it over. The knight spoke in a tired Nanyin and said: "Your Majesty has appointed you. Please report the Hunan battle to the Privy Council as soon as possible!"
The post official didn't waste any more words. While ordering people to help him go down to rest, he quickly arranged for people to report this "urgent military information" to the city of Tokyo.
By the time it was handed over to Liu Chengyou's imperial case after several passes, the sky had completely darkened.
Liu Chengyou was tired when he returned from the military camp. He spent a whole day patrolling the imperial army, from the army in front of the palace to the guard army, from the horse army to the infantry army, and from the imperial city to the outer city.
Regardless of spring, summer, autumn or winter, basically every month, Liu Chengyou would take time to go to the military camp to inspect and train military discipline, inspect the morale of the soldiers, and most importantly, strengthen the construction of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism...
The military report submitted contains a lot of content. Based on the military situation in Hunan, it basically reported the situation of the Ma brothers in Hunan for half a month. Since Hunan is far away from the Central Plains, and there is Jingnan in between, it is basically difficult to get news from the south. To deliver it to the north in a timely and effective manner. Liu Chengyou had specially ordered to pay attention to the military information in Hunan, otherwise the delivery of the news would have been delayed.
The minister who met in the palace was Deputy Privy Envoy Wei Renpu, who had always been relied upon by Liu Chengyou as an important minister. After Wang Jun was transferred to Deputy Marshal of the Guards and continued to lead the army, Liu Chengyou promoted him to Deputy Privy Envoy, sharing the Privy Council with Guo Wei.
"Come here, Chuan Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, Wang Pu, um... call Tao Gu too!" After browsing for a while, Liu Chengyou gave Zhang Dejun instructions, and then began to read carefully.
Over in Hunan, the situation has been chaotic for two years since Chu King Ma Xiguang succeeded to the throne, and it reached a climax this winter.
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Due to the ancestral system of Ma Yin, the first king of Chu, "brothers eventually succeed to younger brothers", as early as the year of the rise of the Han Dynasty, Ma Xi'e, the governor of Langzhou, revealed his dissatisfaction with Ma Xiguang, who succeeded the throne. Ma Xi'e's ambitions have never been From the beginning, there was no restraint. When he took the throne, some of his subordinates suggested that the King of Chu, Ma Xiguang, take the first step and get rid of Ma Xi'e. However, Ma Xiguang flatly refused, unwilling to kill his brother, and just let him stay in Langzhou. Don't ask him.
As a result, in the next one or two years, the power struggle between the Ma brothers in Hunan became more and more intense. By last year (the second year of Qianyou), it completely turned into a military expedition, with the same room fighting against each other. Ma Xihe raised troops in Langzhou and went south to attack Ma Tanzhou, the capital of Chu.
Then, Ma Xihe was defeated sharply, and Ma Xiguang once again showed his "mercy" to the Ma Chu soldiers and civilians. In order to avoid hurting his brother, he stopped the frontline soldiers from pursuing Ma Xihe and let him return to Langzhou. Hope Ma Xihe I have learned a lesson, understood the situation clearly, and dare not rebel again.
As everyone knows, seeing how weak Ma Xiguang is, Ma Xihe has no scruples at all. Even if he is defeated and captured, with Ma Xiguang's cowardice, the end will not be too miserable. If you lose, you can save your life and even your wealth. If you win, you will be Hunan. Lord, there is no reason why Ma Xi'e shouldn't do this kind of business.
As expected, after returning to Langzhou, Ma Xihe did not stop at all, gathering the defeated troops, regrouping, recruiting troops, and licking his wounds.
It took nearly half a year to regain his strength. However, in Changsha, Ma Xiguang remained unchanged in his politics and made no achievements. He ignored his subordinates' advice to be wary of Ma Xi'e and hunkered down in the palace all day long.
In view of this, how could Ma Xie hold back. This time, he thought more carefully and did not rush southward. After all, with only the power of Langzhou, compared with the King of Chu, Ma Xiguang, the gap in absolute strength was still huge. of.
Ma Xi'e first sent someone to request orders from the imperial court, hoping that Liu Chengyou would send troops south to help him capture Changsha and depose Ma Xiguang, and promised a lot of benefits. Unfortunately, Liu Chengyou was not tempted, but he neither agreed nor refused.
Ma Xi'e's city was shallow and he didn't have much patience. Although he didn't get a reply from the court, it didn't stop him from continuing his actions. He sent people to contact Chenzhou, Xuzhou and Meishan barbarians to induce them to attack Changsha. The barbarians had already known that Changsha was located in the south of Hunan. With great wealth, he could not bear the temptation and gathered his troops to the east.
Ma Xiguang heard about it and sent troops to resist. He lost a series of battles and lost thousands of soldiers. The barbarian troops were so powerful that they attacked Tanzhou counties and towns. When the threat was greatest, they broke through Ditian (today's Xiangxiang) west of Changsha, which was less than two kilometers away from Changsha. Hundreds of miles.
At that time, the situation was that without Lang's troops, Tanzhou was already in chaos. At that point, Ma Xiguang finally felt threatened and knew that his "respected" brother was irreversible. But in the face of this situation, besides sending troops to garrison Outside Yutan, the gateway to Changsha, there is no other way but "what to do".
It was not that the King of Chu lacked talents or courage, but his general Liu Yanxin persuaded Ma Xiguang with some heroic words and took the initiative to send troops north to attack Langzhou and capture Ma Xi'e.
Ma Xiguang, who was at a loss as to what to do, saw that a good general offered him advice, and he gladly accepted it. He appointed Liu Yanxin as the commander of the battle capital and the commander of the camp in Langzhou. He led more than 10,000 navy and army troops north to Langzhou and sent Zhang Hui, the commander of the cavalry army. Lead the army to take the dry road and do not attack Langzhou.
The result, of course, was not what Ma Xiguang had intended. Liu Yanxin was a man of great arrogance but not enough talent to support Ma Chu's foundation. He was careless in Langzhou and fell into Ma Xi'e's plan to confuse the enemy. He was cut off from the rest of the way. On the way, the Langman coalition forces took advantage of the wind and set fire to Ma Xi'e. Unexpectedly, the wind turned against them in an instant and they burned themselves.
Liu Yanxin was defeated and almost wiped out, and only the remaining troops returned south. On the other hand, Zhang Hui's army, upon hearing the news of their defeat, withdrew back to Yiyang, a small county northwest of Changsha. Ma Xi'e sent three thousand troops to attack urgently. The enemy army did not arrive, but Zhang Hui escaped first. As a result, the Yiyang garrison was leaderless and more than 9,000 people died.
After continuous defeats and defeats, no matter how big the family fortune was, it could not withstand Ma Xiguang's efforts. Seeing that the situation was getting weaker and weaker, Ma Xiguang urgently sent an envoy north to Tokyo to ask for help from his father in the Northern Han Dynasty, hoping that Liu Chengyou could make the decision for him.
At that time, the extermination of Buddhism was in full swing in the Han Dynasty, and Liu Chengyou had no time to intervene. He just issued an edict, ordering the Ma brothers to stop their troops and defend their own territory. As for the effect, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty knew it well. In fact, he actually harbored evil intentions.
However, it is not too much to say that the affairs in the south can affect the whole body. The civil strife in Ma Chu involved Jingnan, the Southern Han Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Liu Chengyou ordered people to intensify the response to the rebellion in Hunan. s concern.
On Ma Xi'e's side, he was furious after receiving the edict from the Emperor of the Northern Han Dynasty. At that time, he had gained the upper hand in the war against Ma Xiguang, but he felt that Liu Chengyou was siding with Ma Xiguang, the incompetent master. So he angrily declared himself a vassal to the Southern Tang Dynasty. He asked for troops to help him attack the lake.
After the successive defeats in the Battle of Meishui and the Battle of Yiyang, the Ma brothers had different offensive and defensive positions. Ma Xi'e turned from defensive to offensive, raised his troops southward, and marched towards Changsha again.
When Liu Chengyou received military information, it was the progress of the Langzhou troops in November. Up to now, Ma Xi'e had led his army southward, broke through the pass and captured the stronghold, recruited surrenders and accepted the rebels. His army was approaching the Xiangjiang River, and his troops were pointing directly at Changsha City.